1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air conditioner outlet vent device that is suitable for use in an automobile, etc. and, in particular, to an improvement in an air conditioner outlet vent device comprising a plurality of first blades and a plurality of second blades that are arranged behind the first blades in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the first blades are arranged, the second blades being connected to a common link member and supported in a housing in a pivotable manner so that the second blades can be pivoted by an operating knob that can slide in the direction in which the second blades are arranged.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, such an air conditioner outlet vent device is already known as in, for example, Japanese Utility Model Registration Publication No. 6-41851, in which a rack formed on an operating knob slidably guided by a first blade is meshed with a fan-shaped pinion provided on one of a plurality of second blades.
However, in the above-mentioned conventional device, in order to make relatively large the degree to which the plurality of second blades can pivot, that is to say, the range over which the directions of the air blown out are controlled by the second blades, it is necessary to set the length of the rack and the extent to which the fan-shaped pinion projects out of the opposite sides of the second blade at relatively large levels. The area in the cross section of the outlet vent that is occupied by the rack and the pinion therefore becomes relatively large, leading to a decrease in the amount of air blown out through the outlet vent.
Although it is known that the smaller the gap between the blades, the better the air directing performance, in the above-mentioned conventional device, since it is necessary to prevent the pinion provided integrally with one of the second blades from interfering with the second blades present on opposite sides of the pinion, it is difficult to set the gaps between the second blades at a small level.
The present invention has been carried out in view of the above mentioned circumstances, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an air conditioner outlet vent device that can increase the amount of air blown out, and improve the air directing performance by making the gaps between the second blades relatively small.
In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, in accordance with a first characteristic of the present invention, there is proposed an air conditioner outlet vent device comprising: a housing forming an outlet vent; a plurality of first blades arranged parallel to each other within the outlet vent; a plurality of second blades arranged within the outlet vent behind the first blades in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which the first blades are arranged, linked to a common link member and supported in the housing in a pivotable manner around axes parallel to each other; and an operating knob placed on the first blades side in a such manner that it can slide in the direction in which the second blades are arranged, and connected to one of the plurality of second blades so as to pivot the one second blade; wherein a cut out recess opening toward the first blades and a pair of covers covering opposite sides of the cut out recess are provided on the one second blade, and an engaging arm provided on the operating knob is inserted into the cut out recess so that the engaging arm can engage with one of the two covers.
In accordance with the above-mentioned arrangement of the first characteristic, when the operating knob slides in the direction in which the second blades are arranged, the engaging arm inserted into the cut out recess provided on one of the second blades engages with one of the pair of covers which are provided on the one second blade so as to block opposite sides of the cut out recess, thus pivoting the one second blade. As a result, the other second blades that are linked to the one second blade via the common link member also pivot. Moreover, since the amount by which the pair of covers blocking opposite sides of the cut out recess project out of opposite sides of the second blade is smaller than that of a conventional fan-shaped pinion, it is possible to make the area in the cross section of the outlet vent that is occupied by the engaging and linking parts of the operating knob and the second blade relatively small, thus increasing the amount of air blown out. Furthermore, it is also possible to enhance the air directing performance by making the gaps between the second blades relatively small. Moreover, when the second blades are pivoted in either the right or left direction, since opposite sides of the cut out recess are covered with the covers, the amount of air passing through the cut out recess can be minimized, thus suppressing as much as possible degradation of the air directing performance due to air passing through the cut out recess.
Furthermore, in accordance with a second characteristic of the present invention, in addition to the above-mentioned first characteristic, there is proposed an air conditioner outlet vent device wherein at least one part of the housing is molded by primary injection using a first synthetic resin so as to have shaft holes into which shafts provided integrally with each of the second blades are fitted, and the second blades are molded by secondary injection within this part of the housing using a second synthetic resin having a melting point lower than that of the first synthetic resin. In accordance with the above-mentioned arrangement, at the time when the two stage injection molding of this part of the housing and the second blades is completed, the second blades are supported in this part of the housing, thus reducing the number of parts and the number of assembly steps.
The above-mentioned objects, other objects, characteristics and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from explanations of preferred embodiments that will be described in detail below by reference to the attached drawings